


Where Were You Before

by Churbooseanon



Series: Guns For Hire [12]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Gen, Guns For Hire AU, Mercenaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 18:38:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2398727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Churbooseanon/pseuds/Churbooseanon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A question gets asked, and the mercenaries discuss what they were before they sold their skills to the highest bidders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Were You Before

The question comes up late on one of those rare nights where everyone is at the base. It comes the night Tex gets back and two days before Maine is due to head out on another long job, and during one of Wyoming's self elected hinting breaks. It's a night where the trio don't head out to the Errera, where Wyoming and Florida don't head out to a quieter bar, and where CT and Carolina aren't throwing themselves into whatever it is that they do at night. It's a night where they are all together, in various places in the common room, sharing a drink. A second drink. A fifth drink. 

Nights like those always lead to questions. Questions that they wouldn't dare ask each other at other times, and questions that they don't always answer. In the past they've addressed their preferred way to handle a job, how they would take down each other in a fight, what they would do in a zombie apocalypse, even their favorite kinks (though that one only came up because York kept pushing and Connie answered just to shut him up). But there are questions that are never supposed to come up. Questions about their past have normally been no go. 

"What did you do before you went merc?"

The room goes silent. Eyes look to him because this isn't what is supposed to happen. The tension in the room is more than high, it's stratospheric and it's insane. Tex shifts carefully against the wall, considers walking away, when Wash finally speaks up. 

"Bartender at Errera," Wash says, taking a long sip. "Got into it accidentally, and I was good."

Most of the room nods in agreement with that. The truth of the matter that he was. He'd pulled almost out of them out of tough spots before, out of things that should have been impossible, and no one begrudged him that. 

"Helmet tech R&D at Charon," Connie shrugs, and with that the flood gates seem to open.

"I was a dancer for a time," Carolina provides. 

"Wealthy heir. I got bored," Wyoming adds, chuckling to himself as if there was some joke going on. 

"Nothing," Florida smiles cheerfully. "This is always what I've done."

"I was considering becoming a teacher," North whispers nervously, blushing a bit as South rolls her eyes and adds, "Self-defense instructor."

"Locksmith," York answers his own question, grinning stupidly and acting like it was a big surprise. No one even bothers to react. 

All eyes turned to Maine, but the tension in his shoulders and the way he's glowering at his beer says that isn't a direction to push in, so before Tex can really process, the attention is on her. Normally she blew off questions like this. Would just stare them down, make them back off of the stupid question. Then she sighs and shrugs and the words are coming out before she can think about it. 

"I fall in with Florida on this one. I've never done anything before this."

And she hadn't. Before she was with them she freelanced as the Soldier. Before that she had been Bravo-28, an operative for the Control mercenary group. Before that... Well, she doesn't remember before that. The first thing she remembers is Control. It's the only thing she remembers.


End file.
